Venetian type blinds have a series of slats hung on ladders that extend from a headrail to a bottomrail. In most venetian blinds a pair of lift cords is provided, each lift cord having one end attached to the bottomrail and then passing through elongated holes in the slats up to and through the headrail. Alternatively, the lift cords may pass through slots in the edges of the slats as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,051. A cord lock is usually provided in the headrail through which the lift cords pass. The cord lock allows the user to maintain the blind in any desired position from fully raised to fully lowered. Many pleated, cellular and roman shades have a similar lift system in which lift cords extend from a bottomrail behind or through the pleated fabric and through a cord lock in the headrail.
The ladders in a venetian blind are attached to a tilt mechanism within the headrail. Frequently, the tilt mechanism includes a set of drums, one ladder attached to each drum and all drums carried on a shaft. A pair of tilt cords, a cord loop or a tilt wand is connected to the shaft. Pulling a tilt cord or turning a tilt wand turns the shaft and attached drums. This causes the rails of each ladder to move in opposite directions relative to one another thereby tilting the slats.
In a venetian blind the lift cord and tilt cords or tilt mechanism exit the headrail through the front rather than the bottom of the headrail so as not to interfere with the slats. It is common in the art to provide the tilt cords at one end of the headrail and the lift cords at the opposite end of the headrail as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,409,943 to Kwon. The art has also positioned the tilt cords and lift cords at the same end of the headrail as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,238 to Tachikawa et al. During fabrication a hole is punched in the front of the blind to provide an opening for the lift cords and tilt cords. After that occurs the headrail is not symmetrical.
Nearly all blinds and pleated shades are fabricated in a factory and taken in finished form to the house or building where they will be hung by the an installer. Custom blinds, as well as nearly all blinds installed at a business location whether stock or custom, are almost always hung by a professional installer. The installer mounts the brackets that hold the blind at each window location and may adjust the length of the blind at the time of installation. The salesman is supposed to ask the buyer if he or she has a preference as to whether the lift cords and tilt cords should be on the right side or the left side of the blind. If a there is a preference the factory is supposed to be notified so that the blind is fabricated according to the customer's preference. This preference must be communicated from installer to salesman to customer service to factory personnel to inspection and is not only costly, but creates a potential for error. If the installer delivers a conventional blind with the controls on the wrong side, he cannot change the location of the blind controls in the field and must return that blind to the factory. Although some installers have the skills and the tools to fabricate blinds in their shop they seldom reconfigure blinds in their shop to change the position of the controls because that is a time consuming process. It is easier and less costly for the installer to simply return the blind to the factory. At least one manufacturer has reported that blinds have been returned because the controls were on the wrong side. Since large manufacturers sell hundreds of thousands of venetian blinds and pleated shades per year these returns are believed to amount to thousands of blinds being returned each year. Each return means that the installer must make a second trip to the home or business thereby increasing the cost of the sale to both the manufacturer and the installer. Furthermore, if an installer is required to return to a home to replace a blind, very often the customer will ask the installer to make other changes or adjustments. Then the installer must spend even more time on that sale. Consequently, there is a need for a headrail for venetian blinds and pleated shades in which the installer can change the position of the controls from one end of the headrail to the opposite end of the headrail in the field where the window covering is being installed.